On April 27, 1986, on what was the fourth episode ever of MTV’s 120 Minutes, the first video was Lou Reed’s “No Money Down,” off of Mistrial, which was released in May of the same year. The video was directed by former 10cc stalwarts Godley and Creme, and it featured a crude animatronic version of Lou Reed that gets dismantled by the time the video ends. That episode of 120 Minutes also featured videos by the Hoodoo Gurus, the Art of Noise, Oingo Boingo, and Laurie Anderson. 

How do I know any of this? Because of the website, created by one Tyler C., a.k.a. tylerc, called The 120 Minutes Archive, which is in the process of achieving a massive undertaking, namely providing all the information you would ever know about 120 Minutes and the related replacement show that ran from 2003 to 2011, Subterranean, which includes (where available) host and guest information for each episode, track listings for each episode, and links to the full videos on YouTube. It’s incomplete, but a great many people have put in a lot of work to make the site a reality.

If you were a Generation X slacker baby like me, which would make you a teenager for much of the early part of the 120 Minutes run, then this website will provide hours of entertainment, as you relive the joys of getting high to Fields of the Nephilim videos and (perhaps) trying to make out with someone with similar tastes. (But maybe you’ve moved on since then?)

Here’s that April 27, 1986, edition of the show, although it’s been cut up a bit—the Lou Reed video has been edited out, but e.g. “Modern Times” by Latin Quarter is included, don’t know why. The host was J.J. Jackson, one of the “original 5” VJs who passed away in 2004.

 
via AV Club

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
The Dead Milkmen don’t know what they’re doing on MTV’s ‘120 Minutes’ but they don’t like Morrissey